Access Granted: Our Interview with Joey Dale

by Joseph Hadley ·
Published November 4, 2014
· Updated November 4, 2014

In reality, climbing the ladder to EDM stardom is quite difficult. Against the odds, Joey Dale has made it look easy, as he has made a name for himself with a booming big-room sound, and various collaborations with big names throughout the industry. All of his success has come at a young age, and this can serve as both a blessing or a curse for Joey Dale. We were able to talk to Joey about the roots of his career, his collaborations to date, and the best moments in his career so far. Enjoy!

The dance music industry is a young one. How does it feel to be so successful with your music and shows at such a young age?I wouldn’t say I’m successfull already, I still have a LONG way to go, but to be part of this scene and do shows and play and release my music on the biggest labels is really a dream coming true!

Long before your debut EP on Revealed Recordings, Hardwell named you one of his Top 5 DJ’s to watch for 2014. How and when did you first get into contact with Hardwell, and how quickly did he show interest in signing you to his label?I had sent my tracks to Revealed in September last year, and after one day they replied that it was good, but not good enough for a release. But still, I was happy with a reply haha. Then one day later they mailed me back that Hardwell heard the tracks and he wanted to sign the tracks! That’s when I also signed to his Publishing and we kept in contact!

Has it been difficult to handle the life of a musician (constant travel, long hours in the studio) at your age?The hours in the (bedroom) studio, not at all! It’s my hobby and my passion and I can’t think of anything I would rather do then spend my nights in my bedroom studio producing music. The travel part is something different, I really don’t like flying and sitting in a chair for hours. But it’s part of it and the reward is playing in the most beautiful countries in the world for the best crowds!

To this point, you have collaborated with Alvaro (“Ready For Action”), Justin Prime(“Poing!”), and Hardwell (“Arcadia”). How did each of these collaborations come about, and what was it like to work with each artist?My collaboration with Justin Prime began in the summer one year ago, I just send my tracks to him and he liked them and from that moment and I kept sending it to him and asked him for a collab!

My track Ready For Action with ALVARO began 2 years ago. I send my tracks to him and he liked them also, and we went in the studio together and made some demos but never finished anything. Then in the summer of 2013 I made a break and a melody and he loved it and we met 3 days later in the studio and Ready For Action was born in a few hours!

My collab with Hardwell began last year in January. After I signed a few tracks to Revealed, I kept sending my tracks to them. I made a cool idea for a new track and sent it to Revealed. Hardwell heard it and called me a few days later and said he would loved to work with me! You can imagine that it was one of the best days in my life haha. A few months later Arcadia was ready for the premiere on Ultra Music Festival!

Your productions fall into the genre of big-room house, how have you been able to keep your sound fresh in comparison to the rest of the industry?I really don’t know.. I just make what I want to hear in a club or festival. I think most people recognize my tracks by the sounds and the energy level in combination with catchy melodies.

Other than Hardwell, who in the Revealed family has helped you the most with production, DJing, or the artist’s life in general?Nobody besides Hardwell ‘helped’ me, but I can get a long really well with Kill The Buzz! Last summer we saw eachother like 3 times every month haha and we played some gigs together. Besides him I get inspired by everyone on the team; Julian Calor, Thomas Newson, Dyro etc.

A lot of producers worked behind the curtain as ghost producers before making it big. Was that how your career began? Do you agree with this strategy?I am producing music for 6/7 years now. But only one year ago people started to know Joey Dale. I did some ‘ghost’ productions for unknown and better known artists. Simply because it generates money, and If you give up EVERYTHING for your DJ career, you have to get some money to do cool things with your friends/girlfriend, haha. And the most important thing is you learn from all your productions, practice makes perfect so in the end your production skills also improve. Now I don’t have to do that anymore, because I can release on my own now!

It must be easy to feel starstruck when you’re surrounded by all of the Dutch talent. What was your experience like playing at the Heineken Music Hall during ADE, as well as Tomorrowland and Ibiza alongside the best in the country and the best in the world?A big dream! As you can imagine playing at Tomorrowland is evveryones dream, it doesn’t matter which stage, Tomorrowland is the best place to be haha. Ibiza Ushuaia was also a big dream. Definitely one of the best venues in the world! Playing at the Heineken Music Hall was also insane. It’s a well known venue in the Netherlands where all the big artists have played. My settime was not the best, because Hardwell played for another half an hour in the main room next to me, but after his set my stage went crowded too!

What other tracks do you have coming in the near future?As we speak I’m working on a lot more tracks, finished 8/9 tracks in the last 2 months and already signed 4 of them! So expect them in the coming months.

What has been your favorite moment of 2014 so far?I don’t have to think about that haha, it was my small vacation in Ibiza with 2 friends. It was the day after the release of Arcadia and we went to Ibiza for 3 days just to party. Hardwell played at Ushuaia at his own night so I texted him that I was also around, so we partied really hard that night and I got REALLY drunk backstage with the whole team and it was definitely the best night of my life: Ibiza, Arcadia, Ushuaia, Hardwell!

You heard it from Joey Dale himself: check out “Access Denied” below.

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Joseph Hadley

Joseph Hadley is one of the USA's top dance music writers, and a huge fan of all things related to dance music.He has a keen ear for the latest and greatest tunes, and never hesitates to write up a track that deserves it. He is the Editor-in-Chief here at Dance Rebels, and is currently majoring in Newspaper and Online Journalism at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

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